The multitude of plant and animal species have been recognized as a potential source of biologically active compounds. A number of compounds have been isolated from marine invertebrates, and some of these have been found to be cytotoxic and antineoplastic. In view of this, marine invertebrates are being gathered and compounds are being recovered from them and screened for biological activity.
It is an object of this invention to discover and isolate a previously unknown biologically active compound from a marine invertebrate.